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Preconception Health and Health Care Update
Greetings
This is a monthly communication for individuals interested in improving the health of women and infants through preconception health and health care. We welcome your readership and contributions. |
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Preconception Peer Educators: Each one, teach one
 Preconception peer educators are being trained on college campuses acrosss the country. Started with a pilot in many historically black colleges and universities and other campuses, this work continues.
The Office of Minority Health (OMH), of the US Department of Health and Human Services continues its campaign to raise awareness about and reduce infant mortality in the African American community-A Healthy Baby Begins with You. With the leadership of producer, Tonya Lewis Lee, the national spokesperson for the campaign, the creation of documentaries and community action continues. (Click here to learn more about the documentary "Crisis in the Crib-Saving our Nation's Babies")
Phase II of the campaign enlists college students as peer educations on campuses and in communities to disseminate preconception healthe messages. OMH, in partnership with Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, CityMatCH, and March of Dimes, conducted a pilot in 2009. (Pilot sites: Fist University, Meharry Medical College, Spelman College, Morgan State University, and University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing).
For more information on participation or to find out how your school might be involved in the future, email the Office of Minority Health. |
New Indicators for Preconception Health
The Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative of the CDC is guided by a Select Panel, four Work Groups (clinical, public health, consumer, and policy/finance). A priority of the Public Health Work Group is to improve data and surveillance to monitor women's health and preconception care.
Two of the CDC's 2006 Recommendations on Improving Preconception Health and Health Care focused specifically on use of surveillance data to provide evidence of the effectiveness of preconception programs and to monitor improvements in preconception health. A major challenge was the lack of a population-based surveillance system, since there are currently no nationwide surveillance systems that specifically collect data from reproductive-age women.
In December 2007, a committee - comprised of seven state public health agencies (California, Delaware, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah) and CDC - was formed to identify currently measurable indicators at the state level. Through a multi-staged, 18-month process, they developed a list of Core State Preconception Health and Health Care Indicators meant to help states to uniformly define, collect, and report on data relevant to the health status of reproductive aged women between the ages of 18 and 44 years.
This voluntary, collaborative effort identified 45 core indicators within 11 domains: general health, reproductive health, chronic conditions, infections, nutrition and activity, genetics, substance abuse, mental health, health care, social support, and social determinants. States will be able to choose and use these new optional indicators.
A session at the Association for Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) annual meeting will highlight this work. The indicators will soon be published and made available on the Internet. |
| Colorado Fosters Clinical Collaboration
The Colorado Clinical Guidelines Collaborative (CCGC) has developed thirteen guidelines which are revised every one to three years and disseminated to thousands of healthcare professionals throughout Colorado. One of the latest is the Preconception and Interconception Guideline.
CCGC is a unique non-profit coalition of health plans, physicians, hospitals, employers, government agencies, quality improvement organizations, and other entities working together to advance use of evidence-based clinical guidelines. With over 50 healthcare organizations working together CCGC has gained regional and national recognition and become the source for evidence-based clinical guidelines in Colorado.
For questions or concerns about the Preconception and Interconception Guideline, please contact CCGC at (720) 297-1681 or their website. | |
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Thinking about women in health reform?
Visit these web sites to learn more:
White House healthreform.gov
Jacobs Institute of Women's Health
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